Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman addressing an event in Lahore. Photo: X/file
KARACHI:
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Tuesday warned that the party’s ongoing campaign against the petroleum levy would turn into a movement to oust the government if its demands were not accepted, saying the party would neither end its sit-ins nor withdraw its September 20 march on Islamabad.
Addressing a large public meeting on the 31st day of the JI’s sit-in outside Governor House Sindh and later speaking at a press conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq, the JI emir said the government would have to abolish the “petroleum levy extortion” and meet the party’s demands.
He said the JI would announce its strategy for the September 20 Islamabad march on September 17.
He said a major public meeting would be held outside Governor House Sindh in Karachi on September 16, followed by rallies in Lahore on September 17 and Mardan, before the campaign culminated in Islamabad.
“Forty cities are continuing sit-ins, and the government’s containers will not be able to block our way,” he said.
He also rejected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s petroleum relief package, calling it a deception and saying more money was being spent on advertising the package than the amount of relief being provided.
“This is not charity that the Pakistani nation wants. The nation wants its right,” he said, adding that the public’s right was the abolition of the petroleum levy. He said relief packages of Rs25 billion and Rs75 billion over three months would provide no meaningful benefit.
The JI emir accused the government of negotiating with the party on the one hand while “dropping a petrol bomb” on the people at night on the other. He demanded an end to the mechanism of increasing petrol prices on a daily basis.
Hafiz Naeem said the petroleum levy had no direct connection with the price of petrol, pointing out that the government was charging an Rs80 petroleum levy, a Rs5 climate support levy and other taxes.
He said that, under the prevailing circumstances, the government should have reduced the levy instead of allowing prices to rise, which would have benefited consumers.
He said the government had announced one month of Rs25 billion in relief, to be distributed weekly, which would force people to stand in queues.
The Petroleum Dealers Association had already said that implementing the scheme would be difficult because it had not been consulted, he added.
“Accept our demands with honour, accept them properly. We do not want anything for our party or for ourselves. We want relief for the people of Pakistan, for mothers and sisters,” he said.
